On Restaurants | Agency's bake shop provides sweet workplace training

Tuesday

Mar 11, 2014 at 12:01 AMMar 11, 2014 at 6:07 AM

Once the ribbon was cut and Sweet Innovations officially opened at the River Valley Mall food court in Lancaster, the owners intended to do a lot more than sell cinnamon rolls and coffee. The goal was to create job opportunities and skills for those served by the Fairfield County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

Denise Trowbridge, For The Columbus Dispatch

Once the ribbon was cut and Sweet Innovations officially opened at the River Valley Mall food court in Lancaster, the owners intended to do a lot more than sell cinnamon rolls and coffee.

The goal was to create job opportunities and skills for those served by the Fairfield County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

The agency owns Sweet Innovations, whose tag line is “Sweet Treats with a Purpose.”

When it comes to developing job skills, food service is a natural fit.

At the bake shop, the agency’s clients learn “basic customer service, how to run a register and count change — the skills they’d need to work in retail or restaurants out in the community,” said David Uhl, director of business development for the agency.

They’re “learning transferable skills so (our clients), if they want, can eventually move to another job,” Uhl said.

The agency operates a handful of social-purpose businesses, including a wholesale greenhouse behind Ohio University-Lancaster and two food-service locations: the Square Seven Coffee House inside Art and Clay on Main Street in Lancaster, and Sweet Innovations, which opened in August.

During March, the agency is celebrating Development Disabilities Awareness Month by offering 10 percent off at Square Seven and Sweet Innovations to any customer who mentions it.

Sweet Innovations is going strong, Uhl said, but it began as a happy accident.

A board member suggested that the agency buy the assets of Cindy’s Cinnamon Rolls, which was located in the mall food court and had been for sale for some time. In March of last year, the deal was finalized.

“We decided not to use the Cindy’s recipes,” Uhl said, in part because the chain was waning and offered little support to franchisees.

Instead, Sweet Innovations has developed its own recipes and built the menu from scratch. Ideas have been culled from a variety of sources, including family recipe boxes and culinary students at Lancaster High School.

“Everything is baked in-house ... fresh daily, from scratch,” Uhl said. The shop handles special orders of all sizes for meetings and events.

Sweet Innovations employs three clients of the Fairfield County Board of Developmental Disabilities and three people to assist them.

“It’s a pretty inclusive environment, which is great for our people,” Uhl said. In recent surveys, employees indicated that they enjoy the work.

The agency isn’t the only group that has turned to the restaurant business as a means of pursuing social goals.

LifeCare Alliance operates Carrie’s Cafe, at 670 Harmon Ave. in Columbus, as a social entrepreneurship enterprise. It is a senior dining center combined with a wellness center, but it also is open to the public for lunch.

Serenity Cafe Downtown, which has closed, operated as a social-purpose enterprise of the Serenity Street Foundation, which helps men with substance-abuse problems.

Still, food service is a tough business, even if it has the backing of a nonprofit group. Neither Square Seven nor Sweet Innovations is technically profitable, but that isn’t necessarily the best way to measure their success.

“Sure, we’d love to break even, but money isn’t the sole consideration,” Uhl said. “When we look at what it costs to serve someone in a segregated sheltered workshop compared to a business out in the community, the costs are much lower in the community.

“We consider this an investment of dollars used to support individuals. First and foremost, this is about training and giving the community the opportunity to see our folks in action and allow everyone to interact.

“We’ve definitely gotten the social return on investment.”

Off the menu

• Pulp Juice and Smoothie Bar has opened in the Market at Mill Run shopping center, 3664 Fishinger Blvd. in Hilliard. For more information, go to www.pulpjuiceand-smoothie.com or call 614-655-7857.

• Curry & Sweets, an Indian restaurant, is open at 1140 Kenny Centre Mall in the former Sher-E-Punjab location. For information, go to www.curryandsweets.com or call 614-538-9790.

• Shaw’s Restaurant & Inn, 123 N. Broad St. in Lancaster, is offering a series of special menus during Lent. The revolving suite of main courses includes items such as shrimp po’ boys, lobster rolls, crab-cake sliders, New England clam chowder and mussels meuniere in a wine and shallot sauce. For more information, go to www.shawsinn.com or call 740-654-1842.

Dispatch restaurant columnist Denise Trowbridge can be reached at onrestaurants@dispatch.com.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.